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I remember am remembering correctly, you had to deal with ick before but I can not remember when. The ick parasite can live in the substrate for around 3 or 4 weeks (not to sure on the exact lenght of time) before it becomes free swimming and can infect a fish.

I first set up the tank back in August, did a fishless cycle, added fish 9-17, had an ich outbreak 9-23. treated for several days with heat and salt and saw 0 spots as of 9-30. slowly reduced heat over 4 days and have not seen ich since.

The lenght of time the ick can stay dormant in the substrate certainly is topic that can be debated. I know in marine set-up the virus can stay dormant for up to three months, but I have never been able to find a maximum lenght of time for freshwater envirnments

From what I have read, sometimes fish can build up a bit of a toloerance to ick so when they do get it, it doesn't last very long and is not very noticeable. It can be missed until one fish gets it and they do not have a resisitance to it

Reguardless of were it came from or how it got there, the more I look at your pic, the more I think it is ick

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]

When I go fishing I just place a sharp rock in the water and sit there waiting for all the dead fish to float to the top... KingfisherBrutal honesty will be shown on this screen.I think my fish is adjusting well to the four gallon, He's laying on his side attempting to go to sleep on the bottom of the gravel.Tolerance is a great thing to have, so is the ability to shut up.I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.

Thank you all for weighing in.
Even though these spots do not look like the ich spots I dealt with back in Sept and even though I have added no new stock since 12-4, and even though no other fish are showing signs , BECAUSE I treated with prazi pro on 12-16, and because I trust you guys I'm going to go with your collective diagnosis and treat for ich.

I have snails in the tank so I want to stay away from copper safe.
Also, when I treated in Sept, I used only heat and salt. So I'd like to try a medication that might have a better shot at killing it once and for all. I've been reading just now and the more I read the less certain I feel about which one to use?

Is there a NON copper based medication you can suggest that will not also kill my BB or stain my silk plants or silicon seal?

Quick Cure or Ick Guard does not contain cooper. But it seems to me you treated with salt/heat before and it didn't work so you then went to the medications. At least that's my memory which isn't too hot.

Quick Cure or Ick Guard does not contain cooper. But it seems to me you treated with salt/heat before and it didn't work so you then went to the medications. At least that's my memory which isn't too hot.

My memory isn't too hot either Hobbs. that's why I wrote it all down. What I did before was panic, dose with copper safe, then lost an angel and panicked again then did W/C's to get rid of the copper safe then switched to heat and salt - which did eventually kill it.

Okay. i'm taking the grandkids to a movie this pm so we'll stop by the LFS and get either the Quick Cure or the Ick Guard.

Man I hate this. and oh - you asked about adding a 3rd BP (your memory is better than you think). That was back in October. The only thing new is the hornwort 2 weeks ago.

So unless the ich came in on that, Cliff is probably right ... it just didn't get completely killed the end of Sept and for some reason this guy picked it up. He was really shy for the first 2 weeks so it was hard to get a good look at him but lately he's been much more social and eating much better so I get to see more of him. Maybe he had a touch of it when I got him. He'd been in QT for me at the LFS (along with the jurupari) for at least 2 weeks before I brought them home on 12-4 - maybe that wasn't enough time. However, he came from a tank known to the LFS owner (a woman who works for him) and she's meticulous about her tanks. Guess you just never know.

If you added the fish at the beginning of this month he very well may have come in with ich and just wasn't showing any signs yet.

When I go fishing I just place a sharp rock in the water and sit there waiting for all the dead fish to float to the top... KingfisherBrutal honesty will be shown on this screen.I think my fish is adjusting well to the four gallon, He's laying on his side attempting to go to sleep on the bottom of the gravel.Tolerance is a great thing to have, so is the ability to shut up.I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.